Abstract
The education system in South Africa is currently under severe pressure for a whole number of reasons. Education is seen as a right but the majority of students are not properly equipped to attend university. This is especially true of mathematics and science education, impacting OR/MS education as well. In this chapter a general context of education in South Africa is presented and how this effects university education. The rest of the chapter will then focus on OR/MS education at the South African tertiary, or higher education, institutions. The focus will be on the five main topics covered in the recent European study of OR/MS Education (Teixeira et al. 2016). A qualitative and descriptive view will be presented on what is currently happening at South African institutions of higher education as it relates to OR/MS education. Initially a general overview is presented of OR/MS education in the country. The current state of OR/MS education in South Africa is then sketched. The information was obtained through interactions with educators at the respective institutions as well as from the university websites. The emphasis in what is presented are on the following aspects namely: the enrolment of OR/MS students; addressing 1st year students’ failure rates and promoting continuity; the value of OR/MS courses; the teaching practices; and assistance provided by universities to students entering the labor market while highlighting any innovative practices in OR/MS education. These are also the main topics covered in the recent European OR/MS education survey. Other issues of relevance are addressed as well.
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Notes
- 1.
English and Afrikaans are two of the official languages in South Africa.
- 2.
International Mathematical Olympiad—https://www.imo-official.org/results.aspx.
- 3.
African students include all non-white students namely black, coloured and Indian.
- 4.
Sol Plaatje University (SPU)—www.spu.ac.za.
- 5.
University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB)—http://www.usb.ac.za/MBA/Pages/Structure-and-content.aspx.
- 6.
ORiON is the journal of the Operations Research Society of South Africa, see http://www.orssa.org.za/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=ORiON.Contents.
- 7.
Personal interaction with students at the 45th ORSSA conference, Sept. 2016.
- 8.
Agreement to get uniformity of university courses in European countries that are signatories to the Bologna agreement.
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Acknowledgements
The inputs obtained from the following individuals at the respective universities are gratefully acknowledged: Prof. Theo Stewart (UCT), Prof. Jan van Vuuren (US), Dr. Isabelle Nieuwoudt (US), Prof. Ilsa Basson (Unisa), Prof. Johan Joubert (UP), Mrs. Wilna Bean (UP), Prof. Hennie Kruger (NWU), Prof. Maseko Lesaoana (UL), Dr. Peter Kilbourn (UJ), Dr. Byron Jacobs (WITS) and Dr. David Lubinsky (WITS).
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Ittmann, H.W. (2018). A South African Perspective on OR/MS Education. In: Beliën, J., Teixeira, A., W.Ittmann, H., de Miranda, J., Laumanns, M., Vaz Pato, M. (eds) Advances in Operations Research Education. Lecture Notes in Logistics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74104-8_5
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